Project Arachne
by katiesparks
Summary: Base is being abandoned. I am being looked at closely for accounts of treason. We are leaving Arachne here, though I desperately wish to take her with us. She is merely a child. I’m leaving behind this notebook; please, someone, find her- SxR Massive AU
1. Cobwebs

**Project Arachne**

**12/22/08**

_**katiesparks**_

Shinichi crept quietly through the darkness, his eyes scanning every inch of his surroundings. Pure luck had led him to this place, an abandoned Black Organization base, full of nothing but spiders and the faded memories of the dead. He moved like a ghost from room to room, looking for a clue, a hint, the remnants of something, anything to help him in his investigation. But nothing was to be found. He was in the last room on the hallway when he found the book. The tomb had been left behind an old desk, it could've gotten there by any number of means; someone dropping it and forgetting to retrieve it or someone leaving it behind in hopes it would one day be discovered, he would didn't think he would ever know. It was leather bound and full of dust, but finally, he was able to wipe off the page enough to read the neat scrawl of its former owner.

_Project Arachne  
__Day one  
__Project leader-Scotch  
Report-Sherry_

_We took Arachne out of her tube today, she seems normal enough and her vital signs are as expected. _

_Hair color-brown  
Eye color-changing constantly, currently blue, scratch that, black  
All fingers and toes accounted for._

_*Note: a fine web has formed on her skin several times. I have removed it three times in the past hour. Web resembles that of a normal, non-poisonous spider._

Perplexed, Shinichi flipped though the pages. Some of the entries were only days apart, others, weeks, even months. Finally, he found the last page that had writing on it.

_No time to head entry.  
Report-Sherry_

_Base of operations is being abandoned. I am being looked at closely for accounts of treason due to accusations from Brandy. We are leaving Arachne here, though I desperately wish to take her with us. She is merely a child. I wish to smuggle her out, but it will not be possible. I'm leaving behind this notebook; I pray someone finds it in time. If anyone is reading this, please look for Arachne, please-_

The writing ended in a smear of ink and Shinichi assumed that the writer, Sherry, had been interrupted. Flipping through the pages again, a cloud of dust rose up and he sneezed and fell back against the desk behind him, knocking over a dusty lamp. But, instead of falling, the lamp bent like a lever and the wall behind him made a popping noise as a crack appeared in the corner. Curious, Shinichi stuck his fingers into the silt and pried the wall open. His fingers encountered more sticky cobwebs, but he brushed them aside as a gush of stale air greeted him.

"_Who is there?"_ asked a faint voice from beyond the door and Shinichi looked up to find the most beautiful woman he had ever seen looking down on him from her place in the gigantic mass of webs near the furthest corner of the ceiling.

She had thin arms and legs and her muscles were visible as she twitched. Her hair hung long down her back and tangled with the web she was upon. Then most shocking feature was her eyes, when he entered, they had been the color of blood and had glowed in the darkness of the secret room. Now they were yellow and looked upon him curiously.

"I do not know you." She stated and moved fluidly down the web until she was only halfway up the wall. "Come closer, I won't hurt you......much. Any harm would not be fatal, it would not even hurt. I am too skilled for that, come closer, human, and let me see your face."

Shinichi desperately wished he had not come into this room as he moved forward, not of his own will, but under some sort of spell. Finally, when he was close enough, his feet stopped moving and the woman reached down to stroke his face. "You are a pretty sort of boy. Tell me, what is your name?"

Shinichi gulped but answered clearly. "Kudo Shinichi."

She nodded before pulling him closer to her. "They called me Arachne, but Sherry liked to call me Ran, I am unsure why. You may address me as you choose."

Shinichi found his voice after he was about five feet off the ground. "What are you? What happened here?"

Ran considered him for a moment. "I am a spider-humanoid crossbreed. I was born here from a tube on Day One. They wished to make a weapon out of me, but they said I was not dangerous enough. I would not allow them to dispose of me. I showed them how dangerous I could be. That was many years ago, when I was still of smallness. I have been here since then."

Shinichi flinched at her reassurance of how dangerous she was and it did not go unnoticed. "Do not be afraid of me, Kudo Shinichi, I don't wish to harm you. I have been alone for so long, you will stay with me now and we shall be happy." She pulled him against her chest and he felt her hand go to the back of his neck. Slowly, he felt the webs extending from her fingers and crawling through his hair and down the back of his neck.

"Are you afraid of me, Shinichi?" she asked, and distantly, he noticed how bad her manners were.

He decided the woman, if she could be called that, would be a very hard person to deceive and opted for the truth. "Yes, very much so. You are quite frightening."

She smiled and it was a kind smile, the kind that could win you over in an instant. "What is it that makes me frightening? Is there anyway I could be not frightening? If I could do that, could I leave this place and go where you are going?"

Shinichi thought for a moment before deciding that it would be okay, as long as he could keep an eye on her. "The webs are probably the scariest thing. And your eyes changing colors, but some contacts would fix that. And, if I let you come with me, you couldn't be touching all over people."

Ran nodded. "I can keep my eyes one color if I wish. What if I did this?" She set him on the ground before pulling herself out of the web, scraping off the stringy filaments until very few remained, leaving her looking a lot like Shinichi did at the moment, as if she had decided to take a tour of a very old house. She stood a foot or so away from him, her eyes stuck on blue, probably in an imitation of his own blue eyes, waiting for his reaction.

"You look alarmingly normal. If you promise to behave, I guess you can come with me. But one wrong move and I'm selling you to a research facility." Shinichi stated.

"I will behave myself. My first time outside, how exciting!" She cheered and Shinichi found himself looking at her fondly for a moment before shaking himself, he was only taking her with him because she would know a lot about the Organization, that's all.

At least that's what he told himself, even after she reached for his hand and he didn't resist.

_'Oh well,' _he thought to himself_, 'normal was overrated anyways._'

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**The idea for this one came from a very strange place. But I like it, it's very strange and out there, even more so than any of my other stories. It's very AU, though, don't you think? No flames please, you read it, I didn't make you!**

**-katiesparks**


	2. Homecoming

**Ok, so I liked the idea too much to let it go. So now we have continuation drabbles! Yay!!!!!!! (I need to get a life, or a boyfriend, or both. :P)**

Shinichi walked into his house, Ran behind him as she looked around to her content. She was practically bouncing in excitement and Shinichi thought to himself that she looked a bit like a child on Christmas, despite her rather obvious markers of age, mainly her boobs, which he found himself looking at no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. What made it worse was that she had no idea why he was looking at them and had taken upon herself to continually ask him why.

Its not like he was the only one looking either, not that they were particularly big or anything, just that she hadn't gotten a new change of clothes in years and hers were rather....threadbare is the nicest way to put it. Resolutely, Shinichi shut the door behind him and opted not to think about the perverts. He also decided it was about time to raid his mothers' closet until they could buy her some more appropriate garb. Glancing out the window and noticing how quickly the sun was sinking, he thought that he should just go ahead and give her some night clothes, he'd worry about everything else later.

Motioning for the strange girl to follow him, he walked into his parents' bedroom and fished out a knee-lenth night gown and handed it to her. "Do you need any underwear, Ran?"

"Underwear? What's that?" she asked and his eyes strayed to her breasts. Now that he thought about, she didn't **seem** to be wearing over them, may she wasn't wearing anything at all under-No wait, bad thoughts, stop!

"Erm, nevermind. Do you want to take a bath before you change?" he said and she looked at him curiously, her eyes switching to yellow as she assumed she didn't have to keep up appearances inside tha house.

"What a bath?"

Blanching and quickly realizing he needed some help of the feminine persuasion fast, Shinichi pulled out his cell phone and called the only person crazy enough to believe him immediately.

"Moshi, moshi?"

"Kuroba? It's Kudo."

"Tantei-kun! To what do I owe the honor?"

The boy was filled in promptly. "....So do you think you could send Aoko-san or Akako-san over to help me, please? This is not something I want to have to explain."

"....Sure, Kudo, I'll send Aoko over. You just handle the creepy spider-lady until we get there, okay?"

"We?"

"Of course, you think I'm letting her go alone when this could easily be some sort of trick, I'm not the only person in the world who can change their voice, you know."

Shinichi sighed. "Okay, point taken. But please stay away from her, at least until she's dressed, I'm not sure how she's going to react to strangers and I don't need Aoko-san and you having an impromptu mop-chase because you couldn't help but stare at her cleavage. And don't say you won't, because I tried very hard not to, but its just **there**."

Kaito laughed. "Sure thing. See you in a few! Ja ne!"

"Ja ne."

Shinichi finally ended the call and looked over at his house guest, who'd been watching him talk on the phone for several minutes. "Ran, would you like to see the room you're going to stay in?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yes! Oh, my very own room; what will it look like?"

Shinichi chuckled. "It's disturbingly normal, so you might not like it, come on, this way."

He led her to the guest room across the hallway from his and opened the door. The room was bland, but obviously made for a more feminine guest, with a soft pink color being the theme. A small futon was in the corner furthest away from the door, next to a small window that overlooked the street below. There was a dresser along one of the walls and a closet with a mirrored door, explaining the lack of mirrors on the dresser.

She walked in and looked around, spending a ridiculous amount of time in front of the mirror, raising her arm and doing other sorts of odd things to check and make sure it was merely a reflection. Finally, she turned towards Shinichi and he noticed her eyes were yellow again, which, he was coming to learn, meant she was curious.

"Where do I sleep?" she asked.

"On the futon, of course." He answered, gesturing to the object.

She knelt down next to it, brushing the top of it with her fingertips and then using her toe to prod it slightly. After a moment, she turned to him with big, blue eyes. "Can't I just sleep in my web? I clean it up every morning, please?"

Shinichi wanted to refuse, but her look was too pleading and he sighed, giving in. "If we get any extra spiders in the house, I'm going to make you chase them out."

Her mouth stretched into a smile and she opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the doorbell chiming. "Those are some friends of mine. Do you want to meet them?"

Ran thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Okay."

Shinichi sighed, glad she hadn't become upset. "Great. Aoko-san is going to help you take a bath, okay? She'll show you what that is so you can do it yourself next time. You can meet Kuroba after you're dressed. Deal?"

Ran eyed him for a moment before deciding his terms were acceptable, she would take this bath and meet these people, and Shinichi would let her stay out here in the world, in his house and would let her cast her web instead of sleeping on the lumpy thing he called a futon. "Very well."

And thus, Ran met her first new friends from the world outside her prison.


	3. Honorifics

"Okay, Ran, if you're going to be pretending to be normal, ten we need to work on your manners." Shinichi said as he pulled out a box of flashcards. He'd order them offline from a website dedicated to helping to teach small children Japanese.

"Okay." She answered, fingering her newly cut hair. They had got a good percent of it chopped out the other day, though it was still quite long by normal standards.

"Good. First, we'll do –san" he said pulling out a flashcard depicting a middle-aged couple. "You add –san to the end of peoples names when they are older than you, or if they are a stranger. Got it?"

She nodded and he pulled out several different flashcards showing people older than her or about the same age as her and as he gave their names, she added –san onto them diligently.

"Alright, did you notice I didn't show you any pictures of little kids?" he asked and she gave the affirmative. "That's because, even when you don't know them well, you can call little kids using different honorifics. For boys you use –kun.," he held up a card of and small boy eating ice cream. ,"and for girls you use –chan." He held up another card, this one with a girl showing off her dress in a mirror. "You use –kun and –chan on people your own age too, but only when you know them well, okay? Ready?" He showed several more cards, mixing the children into the pile he'd shown before.

"There are lots more of them, but we're only going to do one more for now. This one is important, okay? It's the absence of a honorific. That means, you call them by their name without adding anything onto the end. You only do this when you know someone very, very well and you probably need permission before you start calling them without it."

"Ano..." Ran said suddenly and he noticed her eyes flipping to blue. "Can I still call you Shinichi or do I have to call you Shinichi-kun or Shinichi-san?"

Shinichi groaned as he looked at her pleading gaze, making it obvious what answer she wanted. "Call me what ever you want, just stop it with the eyes tricks!"

"Yay!" she cheered, leaping from her seat to hug him and Shinichi tried desperately to get away, or that's what he'd tell you if you asked, anyways.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**A quick lesson in honorifics, just because I thought it was cute.**

**Next time: Ran's first day of high-school. Oh, the **_**horror...**_


	4. First Day

"Okay, so uniform, check, obviously." Shinichi said, looking at his companion, who was dressed in blue uniform of his school. He eyed her critically. "You remembered to put on underwear this time, right?"

Ran gave him an annoyed look. "Yes, and Aoko-san explained why it was important, too. Pervert."

Shinichi shook his head, she'd been spending too much time with the sweet, but violent girl and it was rubbing off. Remembering what they were doing, Shinichi moved to the next item on his mental checklist. "Backpack?" she held it up. "School supplies?" she yanked it open and showed the contents of the bag.

"Coat?"

"Why do I need a coat? It isn't cold!" she protested, despite the fact it was the middle of winter.

"Because it's cold to everyone else and you'll look weird without one." Shinichi said and she huffed, but grabbed it off of a nearby chair.

"I think that's everything. Remember, keep your eyes blue, or brown or whatever, all day long. Ready?" Shinichi said.

Ran nodded and bounced up next to him, grabbing his hand in the process. "Ready!"

---

Normally, Shinichi was against hacking and other sorts of breaking and entering, but he felt that this one time would be okay, because he was doing it for the greater good. So he asked Kuroba to hack the school mainframe and make sure Ran got put into the same class as him.

After settling things with the office, the two of them walked to their classroom. "Okay Ran, wait out here until the teacher calls for you, they like to be dramatic about these sorts of things. The desk next to me is empty, so after you answer their questions, just sit next to me okay? You'll do fine, I'm sure." He said, leaning over to straighten her tie before smiling at her and walking into the classroom.

Several minutes later, the teacher finally got around to calling for her and she walked in. All eyes were on her and she trembled a bit under the scrutiny, eyes flashing a scared green for half a second before she pulled them back to the clear blue color that she had deemed normal. Her eyes sought Shinichi's face out of the crowd and were pleased to find him, looking at her reassuringly from a desk near the window.

"Alright, everyone, this is Arachne Ran, she just transferred from Chiba." The teacher said and Ran grinned just a little at her name.

"Please treat me kindly." Ran said, bowing at the waist like Shinichi and she had practiced the night before.

"Are there any questions for Arachne-san before we begin?" the teacher asked and a couple of hands went into the air. She randomly chose a boy near the back row.

"What does your surname mean, Arachne-san?" he asked curiously and Ran fished for an answer that wouldn't answer anything, coming up with one rather quickly.

"I don't know, what does **your **surname mean?" she said and the boy managed to look sheepish as he sat back down.

"Suzuki-san." The teacher said, pointing to a girl near Shinichi.

"Why do you keep on staring at Shinichi-kun?" she said and Ran's eyes immediately went to back to Shinichi's face, though he was no longer looking at the front of the room, opting instead to give the other girl an annoyed look that she returned with a smirk.

"Come on, Sonoko-chan, she probably just recognizes him off TV or something." Said one of the other girls and, curiosity peaked, Ran turned to Shinichi.

"Why were you on TV, Shinichi?" Ran said and the class immediately started whispering.

"...called him by his first name."

"How couldn't she know about...."

"....didn't even add –kun!"

"When did she meet...."

"Quiet!" The teacher yelled suddenly and the class froze. "Ran-san? Please take a seat now, we're about to begin."

Ran nodded and walked over to sit by the only person in the room she knew. A note slid onto her desk and she unfolded it.

'_Don't worry, you were fine. Wait for me when the lunch bell rings, okay? I don't want Sonoko getting you alone anywhere.'_

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching her, she began to write underneath the message. She wasn't very good at the whole check-to-make-sure-no-one-is-watching thing though, because nearly everyone in the class was.

'_Why don't you want her getting me alone?'_

She passed the note back to him and he eyed it speculatively before writing something a passing it back.

'_Because they'd never find the body.'_

Ran frowned as she answered. _'I can take the silly human easily.'_

'_No! Just forget about her and do as I say, okay? Later on you can get into all the catfights you want, but for now let's just lay low. And don't even think about using any of your 'advantages' against anyone here, unless you just want to be taken away and never heard from again!'_

'_Fine, I will be good. But why does she dislike me?'_

Ran moved to pass it back when suddenly; it was snatched out of her hand by the teacher. "No note passing in class please, Ran-san. Shinichi-kun, you know better as well. I'll let it slide though, because it's your first day." The teacher's eyes scanned the note and she leaned down next to Ran to whisper in her ear. "As for your question, it's because Sonoko-kun has a slight crush on Boy Wonder here and thinks you to be competition."

"Competition for what?" Ran whispered back.

The teacher looked a bit shocked and Shinichi grinned sheepishly. "You'll have to excuse her naivety, sensei; Ran-chan is not wise in the ways of the world just yet. I hear Chiba is very sheltered."

She left then and Shinichi turned to Ran one last time. "Remember, lunch, okay?"

Ran nodded and then turned to the front of the classroom, intent on learning for the rest of the day.

---

Staying true to her word, Ran waited for Shinichi to gather his things before exiting the room, deciding to ignore the rather obvious glare she was getting from not only Sonoko, but most of the girls in the class.

"Ignore them. They're just angry that you're spending time with me and they're not." He mumbled handing her a brown paper bag.

She eyed it speculatively. "What's this?"

He smiled at her. "Lunch, of course! You're so skinny, you need to eat more or people will think you have a problem. So I packed you one this morning, you don't mind, do you?"

Her face broke out into a grin and she bounced in place, wishing to hug him but refraining because he'd told her glomping people in public was not normal. "Thank you so much. Shinichi! That was really nice!"

He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "It wasn't such a big deal. Let's go find somewhere to eat, it's warmed up some, we could eat outside."

Ran looked at him. "It was never cold to begin with!" she said, brushing past him and he hurried to catch up, opting not to comment on how wrong she was about the weather.

Halfway through lunch, a group of girls, headed by Sonoko, walked over to where the two friends were sitting. "Ran-san, can we have a word with you?"

Ran started to stand up, but Shinichi grabbed her arm. "Sonoko-chan, please don't start this-"

Ran cut him off. "Its okay, Shinichi, I want to talk to them too, I can handle myself here." She smiled and he relented, letting her arm go.

"Don't take too long, class will start soon. Do you want me to wait for you out here or-?"

She smiled broader. "Go on in, I won't take too long. No reason to worry!"

He sighed but picked up both of the finished lunches and walked off, leaving Ran facing the angry mob of girls.

"Why are you so cozy with Kudo-kun?" one of the girls beside Sonoko demanded and the mob made noises of agreement.

Ran sighed, suddenly looking very sad. "I didn't want to have to tell anyone this, Shinichi promised me that no one would ask, but I suppose I have to give you an explanation. I'm going to tell you my story, please don't think too badly of me.

"I was just a little girl when it happened, so I don't remember much about my parents, all I really remember is them dying. I realized soon enough that I was all alone and that no one was coming for me. I took to the streets and I lived there for many years, it was not easy, but I was able to get by, I'm a resilient sort of person.

"But about a year ago, some men found me and claimed they wanted to help me. I agreed readily enough and they took me to an old abandoned house. At first they were kind to me and I was happier than I had been in a long time. But that did not last long. They really just wanted to torture me, I don't understand why. They tore at me with knifes and hammers, never deep or hard enough to scar, but enough to make me scream. Eventually, they were forced to leave their hideout, one of them, a woman who was fond of me and patched up my injuries when no one was around, begged them to take me with them. But they had forsaken her for her kindness to me and her pleads were unheard. So they left me there, tied up in the dark coldness of the cellar for a very long time. I don't know how long.

"When I was sure I couldn't take it anymore and was about to give up, the door at the top of the stairs opened and I saw Shinichi. He helped me to flee that awful place and is letting me stay with him out of kindness. I am undeserving, but very thankful. He has taken care of me like no one since my parent has and I am ever in his debt. I do not know why my closeness to him makes you angry, I didn't speak to people much for many years, any social grace I might have once had is long gone. I never even learned my honorifics, Shinichi had to teach them to me, and by the time I had learned them, I was too used to calling him by just his first name. Please do not judge me or treat me unkindly, I am new to the world and I don't understand it."

As she told her tale, for that's what it was, though the crowd of girls didn't know this, she kept her eyes toward the ground, but as she finished she looked up and none there could be mad at her any longer. After a pause of silence since the ending of her story, Sonoko was the first to speak. "Ran-chan, -can I call you that?-", at the other girl's nod, she continued. ,"we are so sorry, we had no idea...I promise not to bother you again. Please forgive me for my rudeness. If you would allow me to, I would like to be your friend."

Several of the others nodded in agreement, shamefaced at their earlier behavior.

Ran, on the other hand, was beaming in delight. "Oh, would you? Another friend, how lovely! I would like it if we could all be friends and put the past behind us! The future is much more important, don't you think?"

The crowd of girls nodded their agreement and Ran smiled at them, before getting a panicked look on her face. "Oh no! I told Shinichi this would only take a second and now the bell is about to ring! He must be worried, he was sure you girls were going to try to hurt me, how ridiculous, don't you agree?" As she said this, several of the girls looked away from her, putting the school supplies that they had been planning to use as weapons into their pockets discreetly. "I'll have to go tell him about all the new friends I made, how exciting! Goodbye!"

"Bye, Ran-chan." The girls said as she rushed back into the building.

Taking her seat, Shinichi looked at her as if she was some foreign life-form, which she was, but that was beside the point. Revealing an earbud to her, he raised an eyebrow. "Where in the world did you come up with a story like that?"

Ran grinned and Shinichi noted her eyeteeth resembled fangs. "Aoko-san and I read a story like that on the Internet. I just put my name in it and changed a few things. Did I do good?"

Shinichi shook his head. "If I didn't know better, I would've believed it myself. Those girls probably won't bother you again, they'll feel too guilty."

"Ran-chan!" Sonoko said, darting over to the two by the window. "Ami-chan has the newest Super Kawaii! Magazine, of course, you probably haven't seen the old ones, have you? We'll borrow them from her later, but for now, come on! Lunch is almost over and I just saw this outfit that would look adorable on you, you have to see it!"

As Ran let herself be dragged away, Shinichi looked on in amazement before smiling.

'_Who knows,' _he thought to himself. _'Maybe a friend like Sonoko will be good for her.'_


	5. Sick

Nearly a month had passed since Shinichi first found Ran at the old base and things had been going smoothly, or as smoothly as expected. But this story was not meant to tell the tale of a girl's rise from dank cellars into a new world. No, this story is about this girl's rise and fall, for some things in this world are not meant to exist.

"Shinichi!" Ran cried out one morning before class and the boy's head darted up immediately. "Ran?"

She ran over to him and he offhandedly noted there was something off about her step. "Shinichi, help..." she said, her tone slightly panicked and she held her hands palm up out in front of her. They were visibly shaking and small, transparent webs were forming in between her fingers.

"Ran, what are you doing?" he whispered harshly, in shock.

She looked up at him and he noticed her eyes were green. "I'm not, I can't help it..."

'_We have to get out of here.' _Shinichi thought desperately, then he spotted Sonoko and an idea formed. "Sonoko-kun!"

Said girl looked up and walked over. "Mou, Shinichi-kun, you really need to make up your mind, am I Sonoko-chan or Sonoko-kun because I can't-"

"Not right now, Ran's sick and I'm taking her home. Make sure to tell sensei." Shinichi said, interrupting her and picking up Ran and his bags.

"Ran-chan's sick? Are you okay?" Sonoko asked, stepping closer to the girl and holding out her hand, about to check her friend's temperature. Ran darted away, from her, skittish and didn't meet her friends gaze, knowing her eyes weren't the right color.

"Make sure to tell sensei." Shinichi repeated, wrapping an arm around Ran's shoulders and leading her out of the classroom. As they walked, Shinichi noted that it wasn't just her hands that were shaking, it was her whole body. They were moving agonizingly slow and finally, Shinichi stopped and picked her up bridal style, walking quickly to his house, which was slowly coming into view.

Walking into the house and to what was now officially Ran's room, he laid her onto the never-used futon that had been left in the room, if only for appearances. "Ran? Ran, what's wrong with you?"

"Every month, this happens. I don't know why, they used to do tests on me when I was like this, I can't control myself. Shinichi, don't leave me...."

Shinichi pulled her still trembling form against his chest and fought to keep himself calm. "How long will this last?

She shook her head, though you could barely tell with how much shaking she was already doing. "I don't know, a day? Two days, maybe? Please, don't leave me, don't leave me in the dark..."

A fine web had formed over her body and was creeping along his own skin now, trying to engulf him as well. "I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere, I promise. Are you in pain?"

"I'll be okay, I can hold on." A small moan spilled past her lips. "No reason to worry. It's worse now, than it used to be but I've been moving around so much."

"Ran, this is serious. At least let me give you some painkillers or something!" Shinichi said and he felt another layer of web crawl over him.

"You'll be right back, right? You won't leave me here by myself, will you?" she said, choking on her words, obviously in pain.

"Of course. I'll be right back. It'll only take me three minutes, maybe less." He assured and she made a noise against his chest.

"Okay then. I'm sorry I got you all tangled up..." she said and he hushed her.

"None of that, its okay, you couldn't help it." He pulled himself out of the web and walked down to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of painkillers and filled a glass with water before bringing it up to her. She swallowed them when directed to and then curled back into herself. He pulled her shivering body against his and held her tightly.

They stayed like that for a long time.

Finally, she stopped shaking and fell asleep against him and he drifted of as well. They awoke several hours later, sunlight streaming in through the window, announcing that a new day had started.

"Ran?" he whispered as he felt her shift beside him.

"Shinichi?" she said back and, though it was weak, her voice did not tremble.

"Are you okay now?" He asked and she nodded.

"I'm okay. I'll be okay. We need to get dressed, school will start soon." She said and pulled herself away.

"We'll shower and then I'll make some breakfast for use, sound good?" Shinichi said and she nodded.

As they sat at the table, he noticed that she seemed slightly thinner and paler than before, if that were possible. And the very tips of her fingertips seemed to quiver as she handled her chopsticks, barely noticeable, but there nonetheless.

'_What's happening to you, Ran?'_

**_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

**And thus begins the downward slope. It's not all fun and games anymore, kids.**


	6. Turning Point

Every month, the same thing happened, Ran's attacks getting increasingly worse with every passing time. Each time hit hard that the last, her control slipping inch by inch as her strength was sapped away. And after each incident, she grew paler, thinner, and the shaking of her hands grew worse, causing teachers to ask questions and classmates to stare at her. They were unpredictable, though they often hit in the morning, shortly after they arrived at school, the first sign always being the quivering of her hands and the thin, unnoticeable webs between her fingers.

"Ran, you can't keep this up." Shinichi said in the aftermath of one of the episodes.

"I can. I will. I have to, I have no choice." Ran said, but he could hear the hope underneath her thin layer of determination, hope that he had a solution.

"Something's definitely wrong with you, you need help, Ran-" Shinichi started only to be cut off.

"We need to get ready for school." She said and got up.

The sight of her gaunt frame, pale against the her white slip, and the subtle tremble of her slender hands nearly caused Shinichi to become sick.

He got up and went to take a shower to get the cobwebs out of his hair. He would humor her, take her to school, each lunch under the big tree, endure Sonoko. He would humor her as you humor a child, as you humor a person who is in denial, as you humor people who were on the brink of death.

Looking at her one last time before continuing towards the washroom, he had no doubt that she was all three.


	7. Exposure

It had been about a month since her last attack and both Ran and Shinichi were getting antsy about when the next one would hit. It was just another ordinary day in class, Ran was talking to Sonoko about a trip to the mall and Sonoko was excited, though not excited enough to ignore her friend's feeble looking body.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ran-chan? You just keep on looking worse and worse, no offense, of course, but still, have you been to the doctor?" Sonoko questioned.

"I'm fine, Sonoko-chan. Really; you don't need to worry." Ran assured.

"I'm just worried about you, you're always so thin and-Ran-chan, your hands!" Sonoko exclaimed suddenly and Ran looked down to find a ting layer of webs already on her fingers, growing thicker by the second.

"Shinichi!" Ran cried out suddenly and Ran could literal _feel _her control over herself click off as her eyes turned green.

Shinichi's head whipped around and he spotted her shaking hands and the thick webs already crawling over them. He jumped out of his seat and headed over to her.

In the back of the classroom, two girls watched the ordeal with interested expressions. One of them took out their cell phone and snapped a picture of ran, the spider webs easily spotted even on the blurry camera. The other girl pulled out her phone as well, but decided to take it a step further and record it.

Shinichi wrapped his arm around her shoulders and her felt that the web, still very thin, was already on her upper arm.

"Sonoko-kun, please tell sensei that I took Ran home." Shinichi said, heading towards their desks to grab their things.

"Stop right there, Kudo Shinichi! I am sick and tired of you running off like Ran-chan like this! I want to know what's wrong with her and I want to know _**now!**_" Sonoko exclaimed, placing herself in between Shinichi and his desk.

"Not now, Sonoko-kun. I have to get Ran home right now, so move!" Shinichi whispered harshly through his teeth but Sonoko held her ground.

"Then let me come with you and I'll help take care of her! She's my friend too, Shinichi-kun!" Sonoko demanded. By now the webs on Ran's arms were visible and they hung off of her in fine strands.

Suddenly, she gasped, her bright green eyes snapping shut in pain and her arms went to hug her middle as her knees gave out. Shinichi caught her by the shoulders, only helping to slow her fall into a kneel of sorts as the webs made it hard for him to hold on.

"Ran! Just hang on a little longer, Ran, I'll get you home!" Shinichi pleaded as he crotched in front of her.

Her eyes opened a slit. "I can't....hold on...'s too late.....hurts.....sorry, Shinichi...." she said between gasps.

The webs grew thicker then, wrapping around her whole body as she twitched and trembled there on the classroom floor. Her classmates watched in awe as Ran disappeared underneath layer after layer of webs.

Shinichi picked her concealed body up and walked out the door, his and her things forgotten.

In her shock, the girl in the back of the classroom fumbled to click off her camera, not noticing as she hit the send button, which had been programmed to send all messages directly to her current boyfriend unless she changed the address.

The video was on national television by six that night.


	8. Live Coverage

"'_**...and now onto our report about the spider-woman of Beika. Kyoko-chan?"**_

"_**Thanks, Matsuri-chan . We are outside the Kudo household on Day Three of our Spider Watch. We have yet to contact anyone inside about the shocking footage taken on Monday in Teitan High School's classroom. But now, we have managed to find the phone number of the other girl in the video, heiress, Suzuki Sonoko. We're calling her now to get the inside scoop of what happened that day."**_

"_**Moshi moshi?"**_

"_**Suzuki-san! This is Kyoko, with Channel Four News, we'd like to ask you some questions about your classmates, Arachne Ran and Kudo Shinichi."**_

"_**...Decline comment."**_

"_**Suzuki-san, please, we just want to know what exactly happened that day-"**_

"_**Decline comment."**_

"_**All we want to know is just one tiny detail about Arachne-san to hold us over until we can get the full story! Can you do that at least, Suzuki-san?"**_

"_**You want to know about Ran-chan? Well fine, she's the sweetest, nicest girl I've ever met and I'm not even mad that she lied to me about herself! All of you just need to leave her alone so she can enjoy her last few days in peace!"**_

"_**Last days? What's wrong with her, we all saw her collapse..."**_

"_**I don't know, Shinichi-kun, he doesn't either but...Ran-chan, I'm going to miss her **__**so**__** much...!"**_

"_**Suzuki-san, please don't cry..."**_

"_**Just leave her alone. Please, just leave her alone. She's not some sideshow freak for you all to gawk at in your leisure time, she's a living, human being and you're all just kicking her while she's down."**_

"_**From what we've seen, that girl is **__**not**__** a human being."**_

"_**...I believe our conversation is over, Kyoko-san. Ja ne."**_

"_**Suzuki-san, wait-!... She hung up. Someone just saw what? A person looking out the window? Did you get the shot?"**_

"_**Yes, Kyoko-san, and it definitely wasn't Kudo-san. Hey, the front door is opening!"**_

"_**Kudo-san! Kudo-san, please, tell us what's going on! What is your connection to Arachne Ran?"**_

"_**All of you, get off my property before the police get here. Oh, wait, they've already arrived."**_

"_**Any reporter, camera man, or any other sort of unauthorized person that is still within a mile of here after I count to six, is being arrested for disturbing the peace!"**_

"_**Back to you, Matsuri-chan!"**_

"_**Thank you for that report, Kyoko-san. Now we just have to wait and see what the answer to the question on everybody's mind is. Just what is going to happen to Arachne Ran?"**_


	9. Hope Calling

_**Bring, bring**__._

The phone rang in its cradle and Shinichi ignored it, letting the answering machine take the call. '_Probably just another stupid reporter.'_

'_Kudo-san? Are you there? I know you probably aren't answering calls right now, what with the media and all, but I need to take to Ran-chan, I'm sorry, Arachne-san, right away. I'm not sure if she remembers me, it's been a long time, they called me Sherry. I think I might know what's wrong with-' _

Shinichi picked up the phone quickly, recognizing the codename of the woman who wrote the book. "Sherry-san?" he demanded and the woman gasped, surprised by his answering the phone.

"Kudo-san? Please, let me talk to Ran-chan, I've got to-!" Sherry said desperately.

"She's in no condition to be talking to anyone right now, just tell me, I'll give her the message. I remembered your name, from the notebook." Shinichi said and she chuckled humorlessly.

"I always wondered if it was a good idea to leave that behind. It feels good to know I did at least one thing right when it came to her. I was one of the main scientists who developed Project Arachne, from picking out the appropriate genes to helping run tests as she grew older. The pain she felt every month was Scotch's idea, a way to incapacitate her long enough to run tests, we had no choice but to put it in. We had researched the human body's makeup for a long time before attempting this, We used the gene that causes girls to have cramps every month and modified it enough to suit our purposes. But something's wrong, I could tell, after watching the video that that was what was happening but the pain shouldn't have been that bad or come on that quickly, something must be wrong, on a structural level..." Sherry mused.

"What can I do?" Shinichi demanded. "Do you mean to tell me that nothing can help her? That she's going to die?"

"Not if I can help it." Sherry said, her tone hard and cold as stone. "You can bring her to me and I can try to stabilize that part of her or take it out altogether, I'm not sure if its possible but I have to try...For those few short years, she was like a daughter to me, I named her and spent time with her. I would never allow myself to have children; the Organization would've only taken them from me, some way or another. They might have even forced me into getting an abortion, should I have ever gotten pregnant, if they thought it would affect my work. And I would never willing bring a child into that world. But it was not willingly that I helped bring Ran into the world, and as much as I hated myself for it, I was glad she was there. She eased my ache a little, until they took her too. I always knew they would."

"Where are you? Are you still with the Organization?" Shinichi asked, silent telling himself he wouldn't take Ran into that lion's den, they would only hurt her more; he had no doubt.

Sherry sighed. "No, I escaped many years ago. But the Organization does not simply let people retire. I've gone through with plastic surgery too many times to count, worn too many faces to ever know which one is my real one. The alias I use now is Haibara Ai, the chemist. I have the equipment necessary to try and save her at my house. If you can get her here, then I will do everything I can. I dare not come to get her myself, there are still cameras watching you and for all I know, they would still recognize my face. Sometimes, you develop a sixth sense for other members, they would feel me there."

I can do it." Shinichi said, confident. "Thank you for this, Sherry-san, Haibara-san."

"Don't thank me." Sherry said, her voice tired, heavy with her age and her past. "Just think of it as one last gift to the daughter I never had. The gift I shouldn't have given in the first place but wouldn't wish away now for the life of me. The gift of life."


	10. Disappearing Act

"Okay, Ran, are you ready?" Shinichi asked and she nodded and pulled the blanket around her shoulders up over her head like a hood. "I'll go out first and then I'll come back for you."

Shinichi slipped out the front door and was blinded with camera flashes. Multiple reports called out rounds of "Kudo-san, Kudo-san!" and buoyed for his attention.

"Quiet! Ran and I are about to go somewhere and if anyone takes a picture of her, we _will _be suing them, do you understand? News stations will be sued, webmasters will be sued, anyone who shows up with a picture will be punished to the fullest extent of the law!" Shinichi called out and the crowd roared in displeasure.

Shinichi slipped back in, putting his arm around Ran's thin shoulders and leading her cloaked form out of the house. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay." She said and they started down the walk. The crowd parted before them like the red sea, the police's warning had only kept them at bay for so long. Ran held on tightly to her cover and she felt the hands that brushed at it, tugging slightly as she passed in hopes she'd lose her grip and show them her true face, unblurred by a low quality cell phone camera's resolution.

"The next hand that pulls at the blanket is getting cut off." Shinichi growled and the pulling stopped almost immediately. Suddenly, a nondescript car pulled up at the road, the driver and passenger both wearing ski masks, though they were only glimpsed for a second through the windshield, as all the other windows were darkly tinted. Shinichi and Ran got in and the car drove off immediantely.

The driver and passenger pulled off their masks, revealing a scowling Aoko as she drover the car, glancing out the windows every couple of seconds, obviously aware that she wasn't old enough to drive, and a grinning Kaito, who climbed over the front seat and into the back with Shinichi and Ran, bringing with him a couple of masks and a ton of makeup.

"Now then," Kaito said with a grin border lining maniac, "time for one of my favorite magic tricks, the Disappearing Act."


	11. Instant

In the basement of Haibara Ai's home, there was a lab filled with endless amounts of equipment for her research. That was where the three of them were now, Ran seated on a stool as Shinichi stood close to her. Meanwhile, Haibara rummaged through drawers before pulling out a syringe.

Ran flinched as the light haired woman brought the needle with her and the chemist noticed and grinned. "You aren't still afraid of needles, are you, Ran-chan?"

Ran merely shivered and shut her eyes tightly. "Hold her hand." Haibara instructed Shinichi. "I need to find out what's wrong before I can fix it and that means a blood sample at least."

Shinichi reached down and took Ran's rigid hand in his own; her eyes opened and flickered to him, terrified, before returning to the approaching needle. Shinichi used his free hand to cup her face and force her to look at him. "Don't look at it, just look at me; it'll only hurt for an instant."

Ran did as she was told and kept her green eyes on his blue ones, though she was ever aware of the sharp metal drawing closer to her. She still felt its sting but did not turn away from him, she didn't want to see her blood filling the container, that's all she could really remember about the days before her abandonment, needles and her blood flowing out of her endlessly, never in her for too long.

While thinking about this, she didn't notice Haibara remove the needle from her arm and stick a bandage over the tiny hole. The scientist immediately emptied the blood into small vials before she began examining them carefully. Without looking away from her work, she waved them away. "Go rest upstairs, this will take time and you both look as if you haven't had a goodnight's rest for awhile. Press has been keeping you up, right?"

Shinichi and Ran crept upstairs diligently, slipping into what seemed to be a guest room and lying down together, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Shinichi woke up to Haibara shaking him. "Wha-?" he started, only to be cut off by Haibara, who put her finger to her her lips and motioned to the still sleeping Ran.

"It's not good." She whispered. "Not good at all."


	12. Shot In The Dark

Down in Haibara's lab, Shinichi and Haibara talked while Ran continued sleeping upstairs.

"I'm not sure why or how, but the gene we used to cause the pain has gotten out of control, they restrictors that were originally on it are out of hand, it's literally eating her nervous system durng the attacks, that's why she shakes. And there are doing more damage each time, damaging her control over herself, causing her hands to shake even when she's not having an attack, unless we can turn it off or find a way to remove it completely, it's just going to keep getting worse until, eventually, she won't be able to control herself at all and then it'll travel up the spinal column to her brain and after that....She'll either die or enter a vegetable state. And I don't have that kind of long term life support here, she'd have to be taken to a hospital and then the debate about whether to pull the plug or not will be public all but public opinion. This is how it will be." Haibara said solemnly.

"What do I have to do? What needs to be done?" Shinichi demanded of her.

"I have a theory. Since the gene was made from the one that gives girls cramps, then I should be able to cut it off by modifying the gene that triggers menopause. She'll never be able to have kids, not that it would've been a good idea for her to have them in the first place, but it might just save her life. All I need you to is make sure she gets lots of rest, this kind of thing will be a massive shock to her system and she's tired as it is. She'll need all the energy she can get. That means meats, fruits, vegetables, wheat, dairy products, all of those need to be present in all of her meals. No dessert, that kind of sugar only gives you energy for a short time and you feel worse after it's gone. Do you understand Kudo? And whatever you do, don't let her know how bad it is. Let her think we know exactly what we're doing, got it?"

Shinichi nodded slowly. "I understand, though I don't like the idea of lying. This really has a chance of working?"

"A better chance than anything else I've come up with. Go back to her, if she's woken up she'll be frightened that you've left."

So Shinichi walked up the stairs and back towards the person that had started to mean more to him than anything else.


	13. Breaking News

"**And now back to our coverage of the spider-woman care, Kyoko-chan?"**

"**Thanks Matsuri-chan! We lost Arachne Ran the other day as she and Kudo Shinichi fled from their home. They have not been back since but we were able to track down the driver of that vehicle, high school student, Nakamori Aoko, whose father is the head of the Kaitou Kid Task Force. We are knocking on her door as we speak! Ah, Nakamori-keibu, this is Kyoko with Channel Four News, may we have a word with your daughter?"**

"**Damn media, for the last fucking time, we are not telling you fucking idiots anything about the spider-girl! Leave the poor girl alone, you all saw how sick she was! And leave my daughter out of this!" **

"**Nakamori-keibu, you daughter is already a part of this and the public demands she shares what she knows!" **

"**Demands!??! I'll show **_**you**_** demands! Now get off my lawn before I arrest all your asses!"**

"**Tousan, whose here?" **

"**Ah, Nakamori-san, would you give some words about your experience with Arachne-san?!"**

"**I've got some words for you, Go The Hell Away."**

"**Aoko!"**

"**Sorry Tousan!"**

"**She's right though, get the hell out of here and don't you dare go bother Kaito-kun either!"**

"**Tousan! They didn't know!"**

"**Kaito-kun? Was he the other person in the car?"**

"**Damn it, why didn't you tell me that sooner!"**

"**Kenji-kun, find out as much about this Kaito-kun as you can!"**

"**Yes ma'am!"**

"**I said, Get The Hell Off My Property!!!! Damn reporters!!"**

"**Kuroba Kaito, he lives next door!"**

"**On it! Everyone at home, we are now going to contact the passenger from that car, Kuroba Kaito. Kuroba-san, I'm Kyoko from Channel Four News, could you answer some questions about-."**

"**Kyoko-san, do you know what this is?"**

"**An oval?"**

"**Close, a sleeping gas bomb, night night!"**

"**Someone, grab him-!............."**


	14. Line

The days passed slowly then, the hours dragging on as Shinichi did his best to take care of Ran and Haibara did her best to find a cure. And then, one day that was seemingly the same as any other, Haibara emerged from her lab, a tired but victorious smile on her face.

"I did it." She said in a tone similar to what smug children sound like. "We should go ahead and give it to her now, before her nervous system can get any more damaged."

Shinichi nodded and woke Ran up, she had fallen asleep on the couch with her head in his lap while they were watching old anime reruns. "Ran? We think we found a cure, You need to go take it now so you can get better."

She nodded drowsily and sat up. "Okay, downstairs, right?"

"Yeah. Come on, let's go." Shinichi said, helping her off the couch and down the steep steps before lifting her up into the table in the middle of the room. Haibara attached a couple of probes to Ran's chest and the heart monitor next to her flickered to life, beeping with every stead pulse. The chemist then moved across the room to pick up the syringe filled with a clear liquid he assumed was the cure. "Haibara? Are you sure this will work?"

Haibara gave him a hard look. "It's worked on all the cells I've tested it on, I'm fairly sure it'll work and if not......It'll be more merciful than what would come otherwise, I'll put it that way."

Shinichi gave a choked gasping sound be evening out his expression and nodding solemnly. Haibara approached Ran with the needle and the spider-girl flinched away again. "Kudo, hold her hand."

Shinichi grabbed her hand and told her to look at him just as he had before. The needle slid into her arm and the fluid rushed through her veins. The heart monitor beeped faster now and Ran's breathing became labored.

"Shinichi...._hurts..._" she gasped out as her body began jerking violently.

"Hold her down!" Haibara yelled and Shinichi grabbed both of her wrists and pressed her back to the table.

"Just hold on, Ran!" Shinichi yelled and the beeps continued to speed up in pace.

And then, one long steady beep pierced the air with its wail and the green line that had been jumping across the screen went flat....

**___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

**Don't kill me just yet! It's not over till I change the status to complete, remember this, **_**please! **_**All complaints should be directed towards Kirby, this is mostly her story. Praise, on the other hand, should all be for me!**


	15. Pulse

...Only to pulse back into action a second later. Ran's body fell limp as she seized to struggle yet the line continued to jump and fall with her pulse, which was becoming steadier by the minute.

Shinichi looked over to Haibara, who gave him a weary smile. "She passed out, but I think we're in the clear. I'll take some blood just to be sure."

She drew out the blood into a syringe and began examining it as she had done the first time. "Take here upstairs and make her comfortable and check her pulse every fifteen minutes until she's been constant for a hour, got that?"

"Yeah, I got it." Shinichi said, detecting the heart monitor from her and picking up her body in his arms. She was light as a feather and it bothered him, in the back of his mind.

Later, Haibara came up and declared her blood "as normal as it's ever going to get" before going to her room to sleep. It had been many nights since she was able to truly rest, the weight of Ran's life hanging over her like a cloud. But that fog had been lifted and the woman passed out mercifully, sleeping better than she had in many years.

Shinichi waited up, watching the steady rise and fall of Ran's chest as she slept until he too passed out, curled beside her tiny body and they all slept through the night and into the afternoon of the next day.

Shinichi woke up because something had moved beside him and his eyes opened to find Ran sitting up next to him, staring at her hands, which did not shake. She noticed him waking up and looked at him in awe. "Shinichi." She said, showing her hands to him.

He took them in his own and they did not shake nor tremble in the slightest. "Ran." He said, looking up to meet her eyes, which were a purple color he'd never seen before. "Ran!"

And without any warning, he smashed his lips to hers joyfully, before pulling back embarrassed. "Sorry, Ran I don't know wh-mphg!"

But she cut him off in best way possible.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Next, the epilogue! Stick around, it should be up today or tomorrow.**


	16. World

"**This is Kyoko, Channel Four News and right now, we are live at the press conference being held by Kudo Shinichi and the spider-woman, Arachne Ran! After more than a week of doubt and mystery concerning the disturbing footage and all other sightings of the elusive woman, we are finally going to see her face clearly and get the truth about this strange woman!"**

"**Citizens of Tokyo! Kudo-san and Arachne-san are about to come out and answer your questions! But first, we need to lay down some ground rules! You must raise your hand and be called on to speak! Speaking out of turn will get you and any affiliates removed from the premises! Only one person may speak at a time! There will be a time for pictures, so any flash photography during the questions portion will again, get you removed from the grounds. If you do not get an answer to your question, then at the end, a box will be passed around and you may drop your question into the box and the answers will be printed in Asahi Shimbun at a later date. No inappropriate questions will be taken, do not ask about the personal relationships between Arachne-san or Kudo-san. Is this clear?...Then it is my honor to present, Arachne Ran and Kudo Shinichi!"**

"**Kudo Shinichi desu. First, are there any questions for me?"**

"**Kudo-san, Kudo-**_**san!**_** Over here!"**

"**Channel Four."**

"**Thank you, Kudo-san! How exactly did you and Arachne-san meet?"**

"**I was investigating an old warehouse that looked suspicious and stumbled upon a secret room. When I opened the door, she was hanging in a web from the ceiling. She's tagged along with me ever since."**

"**You decided to bring her with you, just like that?"**

"**I don't exactly know why I brought her with me, it certainly wasn't because of her award-winning personality. Next question please! You there, in the tye-dye."**

"**What was with that look you just gave Arachne-san?"**

"**Let's just say that she had no manners or social grace when I first found her and leave it at that. Next question! JNN."**

"**What exactly happened during those couple of days after the release of the video? Arachne-san seems fine and in control of herself right now, but she did not seem to be that way on the video or in the glimpses we got of her at you house."**

"**Ah, I'll let her decide whether to tell you that one or not. Are there anymore questions for me? Or would you like to move on the Ran now? Oh, you there, the blonde."**

"**Are you and Ran-chan dating?"**

"**I thought we said not to ask-Wait, Sonoko-kun! Wait, wait, don't drag her off, she's a friend of ours. Sonoko-kun, why in the world are you asking this on National News?"**

"**So you can't run, pretty-boy. Have you kissed her yet?"**

"**Sonoko-chan, if you don't stop, I will let them take you away!"**

"**Just answer the question! It's so obvious you two have something going on! You haven't let go of her hand yet!"**

"_**Sonoko-chan......**_**"**

"**Fine, fine, I'll ask later, but you better not run Shinichi-kun!"**

"**...Back to the point. Ran? Your turn."**

**---**

"Hello, everyone, my name is Arachne Ran, are there any questions for me?" Ran asked, fiddling with her skirt with the hand that wasn't being held captive by Shinichi's hand. Nearly every hand in the crowd shot up.

Ran moaned quietly and Shinichi snuck her a look that she interpreted as 'Are you okay?' Ran gave him the tiniest of nods and took a deep breath. "Okay then, I'll just pick someone.....You over there, in the group all wearing green?"

"Arachne-san, what exactly _are _you?" a light haired teenager asked and the rest of his friends, all of them wearing the same outfit, whooped and shouted.

"Well, do you want the long answer or the short one. A warning, the long one will probably not be understandable unless you have a degree in Biochemistry." Ran said, struggling to remember what Haibara had told her should anyone actually want to hear the long one.

"The short one then." The boy said and his friends made more noise before finally being to shut up by security.

"I'm a spider-human crossbreed that was designed in a lab to function as a weapon and a source of spider thread, which is one of the strongest types of rope in the world." Ran said easily, this one she knew, and had known, for years.

"Well then why didn't they keep you? You look like a success to me!" someone shouted out from the crowd and the guards were on them in seconds, dragging the unfortunate person outside in a flash. Ran smiled at the masses and a few looked around nervously, her smile looked absolutely predator-like.

"I'll answer that one anyways. Apparently, the person in charge decided I was not dangerous enough to function as a weapon and was to expensive a project to keep merely for my web. So they sent someone to finish me off. I may not like violence but they should've remembered how dangerous I could be if I choose to be. They never stood a chance and I feel no remorse for them." she said, keeping that smile on her face even as she picked out the next person from the crowd, a local newscaster.

"That reminded me, Arachne-san, what exactly do you eat?" the woman said, fidgeting.

"Oh, most anything, I was made to work in most any condition so they made sure that I could eat anything I could get my hands on." Suddenly she turned to Shinichi, her eyes orange in amusement, everyone knew the truth now, so why should she have to hide? "Shinichi, remember this color?" she asked him, flipping her eyes to red.

Shinichi looked a bit stunned at the sudden address but answered nonetheless. "Yeah, that was the color they were when I found you before they flipped to yellow. Why?"

"I thought you were one of them coming back, for whatever reason. Frankly, if you had been someone I recognized, I was planning on eating you." Ran said, giggling as her eyes returned again to orange. Shinichi gulped loudly and the crowd looked around in slight fear.

Ran looked out at the crowd and her eyes flipped again, brown this time, in shame. "Oh, I've scared all of you, haven't I? Don't be afraid of me, please, I've never eaten anyone, I swear, I simply knew I could and it'd been so many years since I'd had any food. I'd lived off bugs that had wondered into my room, but just barely. I'm still much skinnier than anyone else I've ever seen. I wouldn't eat anyone if I didn't have to. Oh, I've gone and messed everything up!"

Tears flooded her eyes and Shinichi moved a step closer, letting go of her hand and putting his arm around her shoulder. "Ran, don't cry, we're not scared of you, we know you wouldn't hurt anyone." He said, low enough to where the audience could barely hear him.

"Maybe you're not, but I've terrified everyone now and they will never accept me and they'll lock me up again and I'll never get to go home with you and be happy ever again." Ran said, refusing to let the tears fall and Shinichi tilted her face up.

"I'd like to see them try. Look, they all still have questions for you, shouldn't we answer them? We can leave anytime we want, no one's forcing you to stay." Shinichi said and Ran straightened up to her full height.

"Okay, next question...The little boy over there, in the blue." Ran said, pointing and trying to avoid the pointed questions the news crews would ask for the moment.

The little boy in question was on top of his dad's shoulders and he stood up then so she could see him clearly. "Can you swing around like Spider-Man?"

The audience laughed and Shinichi took that time to whisper to Ran about exactly who Spider-Man was and what he could do. Ran smiled. "Of course, would you like to see?"

The child cheered and Ran shot out a web from her hand, attaching it to a beam high above their heads and swinging out before letting the strand go and landing next to the boy and his father. The boy cheered more, squirming to get down and then running over to stand at her feet. "Wow, wow, wo! That was so cool! Can you take me with you? Can you? Can you?"

Ran hesitated. "I'm not sure if your dad would like that very much...."

"Go on. Half-spider or not, you just look like a teenage girl to me." The dad said, smiling and Ran ached for her own parents, some people she'd never met. Ran picked up the child with one arm and swung up into the rafters, landing on one with surprising grace.

"Was that fun?" she asked and the child nodded his affirmative before asking rapid-fire questions regarding her relations to Spider-Man, Batman, Super-man, and any other superhero he could think of. Laughing indulgently and making up fake adventures that she'd had with the superheroes, she swung back down to the ground and returned him to his father. Then she returned to the stage.

Shinichi grinned at her, whispering comments along the lines of "If you and Spider-Man had a baby, would it be named Arachne-Man?" and other such stupidity. She swatted him once before turning back to her audience, in a considerably better mood.

"Are there anymore questions?" Ran asked and the hands shot up again. She picked another news station and the male announcer cleared his throat before speaking.

"Arachne-san, regarding the period of time after the release of the video. What exactly was going on then?"

Arachne smiled, but it was a sad smile, filled with pain. "In simple terms, I got sick and I couldn't control myself. I'm better now though. I just decided that if everyone already knew, there was no reason to hide. My eyes, for instance, I can keep them on color if I want, I just didn't see the point in wasting the energy to do so. I'm still a bit weak, I need time to recover." She picked a new person then and they picked up where the other person had been forced to leave off.

"That's what happens when you get sick? What'll happen next time you get sick? If you can't control yourself then you don't need to be around the rest of us normal people where you could hurt someone!" a noise of agreement rumbled through the crowd and Ran's shoulders drooped as she passed the microphone to Shinichi.

"All of you, shut up! It wasn't that kind of sick, something was wrong on a genetic level! She nearly died. Ran is in complete control of herself now and the possibilities of something going wrong again are so low they don't even count. We've gone over and over the data and there are no more defunct cells that could cause this kind of thing to happen again. Besides, the only things that she lost control of were the webs and her eyes, mentally, she knew exactly what she was doing and what was happening and every time she did her best to get away before she had the chance to do anything. And how many of you are scared of spider webs minus the spider? You're all being unnecessarily cruel to someone who hasn't done anything wrong! Is it her fault that she was created? Is it her fault she's different? No, its not! And who cares anyways? She's still just a girl and I can honestly say if it was a normal teenage girl up here that none of you would be asking such hurtful things!" Shinichi seethed at them and the audience hung their heads in shame. "This is our press conference. We are free to leave at anytime and we hold the power here. Don't forget it. You are not here to judge us and we can refuse to answer any question we want. Ran and I just want to be left alone, do you understand?"

"Yeah, all of you idiots just leave Ran-chan alone!" called out a voice from the audience and everyone turned to find Nakamori Aoko and Kuroba Kaito standing there, the former looking as if she was about to hurt someone.

"Aoko-chan!" Ran said, her facial expressions brightening.

Aoko turned, her face going from murderous to joyous in a second. "Ran-chan!" she exclaimed, running up the stairs to embrace her look alike, Kaito trailing behind her.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Ran-chan I was so worried about you! Kaito too! Sorry we're so late, one of his sticky bombs exploded and I had to go by some more tomato juice and get him out of it." Aoko confided and Kaito grinned.

"So that's why you reek." Shinichi said and Kaito thumped him.

"Do you mind, Shinichi-kun? I have something I want to say." Aoko said, gesturing to the mike and he handed it over without complaint. "Now listen up, all of you because I'm not going to repeat myself! I've been around Ran-chan since the first day he brought her home and, even when I picked her up that day from their house, I have never felt myself to be in danger! Anyone who thinks Ran-chan would hurt them is so stupid; I can't even begin to describe it! So, either ask some intelligent questions, or let's end this damn thing now!"

From there on out, the press conference went smoothly, the reporters asked questions about her powers, her childhood, her hopes for the future and, several times, they asked, in subtle manners so that they would not get kicked out, about her and Shinichi's feelings towards one another. There were a few bumps, where people asked things that were painful to answer, but with her friends on stage with her, those questions were fielded by them instead. Even Sonoko joined them up there eventually, though she spent most of her time either whispering things to Shinichi or whispering those same things to Ran. Finally, though, the Day From Hell ended and they all went home.

Ran and Shinichi walked into the house without a word, collapsing on the sofa in weary heap. They turned on the TV as they did, watching the replay of the conference and listening to the funny things the reporters said as they tried to categorize all of Ran's different eye colors. Then it came to what was probably Ran's least favorite question. It came from a seven year old who'd been standing with her hand raised for nearly an hour.

'_Arachne-san, are you and Kudo-san going to have baby together? Because my mommy says when two people love each other very much they have a baby and you and Kudo-san look like you love each other very much!'_

And it was true, they did love each other very much. But it didn't work that way.

"We'll adopt." Shinichi whispered to her on the couch, pulling her closer against him and she turned into his embrace, leaving her face smashed against his chest.

"I'm sorry, Shinichi, you deserve so much better than me." She said, tears in her eyes and she refused to look at him.

"Nonsense. There is no one better than you, you're perfect in every way. And it's probably better this way. You're genes were hand picked, down to even your hair color. But who knows what would've happened if it had just been natural selection? And we'll give someone who needs parents a good home. Isn't that good enough?" Shinichi said, running his fingers through her hair.

"I love you, Shinichi." She said and he tilted her head up so he could look at her purple eyes, filled with love.

"I love you too, Ran, and I always will, no matter who, or what, you are."

And then he leaned in and the world was okay again, if only just for this moment.

* * *

**And that's a wrap! It's been one crazy ride ride, guys, but I hope this lived up to everyone's experctations! Kirby and I thought of a lot of different ways to end this, but we decided that Kyoko-chan needed her last say too, finally someone answers her questions! Orginally, we were going to end it after the press conference but at the last second, this scene demanded to be written and we couldn't refuse, it was just to sweet. We hoped you all liked it! **

**KIRBY: Also, this story was my baby and I'm severly going to miss it so katie-dono has agreed to let me do another one in the same style. So if you have any suggestions, plunnies, or themes you'd like to see written, feel free to throw them at me, who knows, we might like them enough to write them! And everyone, check out our poll and vote! The Possible Future Works section is near the bottom of our profile and has long summaries. Please vote on your favorite!**

**And that's all, it was fun! And, as always, please review!  
**


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